The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art at Comic-Con 2026 | The Midnight Boys

All right, y'all. Welcome into the ring our verse. We are back from San Diego Comic Con. One of the first people that we interviewed was Dr. Ryan link off. He is heading up the Lucas museum of narrative art right here in LA. You might have seen some of this, but if you have it, this museum is incredible. Not only does it show you some rare props and art and material. From Lucasfilm and Star Wars, but this is a collection that Lucas has been curating for years. And we get into with Ryan, what is narrative art? Why this is one of the first museums that is really taking a look into the art of advertising, comic books, manga, K paintings, Ryan was an amazing guest. So yeah, we were super excited and hopefully, yeah, you get to see the midnight boys go into the museum. Thanks. This episode of the ring verse is presented by Searchlight Pictures. More than ever, America needs a laugh and are super troopers to the rescue. The cult comedy classic returns with the most offensive installment yet with super troopers three. A debaucher is bachelor party, an over-the-top wedding, and a dangerous drug smuggling ring all threatened the troop's future. Fill your leader of cola and roll up to the multiplex for super troopers three. Meow playing only in theaters, get tickets, meow. All right, yo, the midnight boys are joined by doctor. Just learn Dr. Ryan, link off how you doing, man. I'm doing really great. Thanks for having me. Y'all for the people who don't know. Yeah, what do you do? What's your official title? I'm senior curator and head of film programs at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. All right, so before you got here, we were arguing over what narrative art means and I've done my research. It seems like you know, people, people argue about it. So what is narrative art mean and it serves as the museum? What are you guys trying to do? I'm curious about your definition, but I'll give you mine and then we can compare. Okay. For me, narrative art is about storytelling, right? And while all art has a story, and that's true of really any kind of art, figurative or not, that there's certain art that is really about stories, and that is narrative art, right? Art that really translates words into images, and while all art is kind of, you know, rich with meaning, not art is really kind of meant to convey stories in that way. So the museum is really dedicated to that kind of art. So we see in the title van Lucas, Museum of Narrative Art, have you met the man? What was the first time like? I actually interviewed for the job in March of 2018 and I met him that and so that was part of my interview process. What was it like? I mean, it was, I would say, you know, certainly an intimidating prospect, but he is a very approachable person, and it was immediately easy. We had a nice conversation. This was that Skywalker Ranch. It was a big moment, but it just started a conversation that's now eight years deep. So George Lucas, obviously, is the architect of one of the most deep and fundamental lords to nerds like myself, right? So you expect the Lucas Museum to be focused on Star Wars or any of that other things that people like to swear by. What was the decision to make this about story, narrative art, like expand beyond what people associate with the Lucas name? Yeah. So this is a museum of visual storytelling. So that's everything for us from prehistoric cave painting to contemporary comics. And George has often used this term, the People's Art, to describe the kinds of art that people will see. And it really be a kind of home for book and magazine illustration, comic art, children's book illustration, poster art, film. So Star Wars is part of that ecosystem. And really what matters at this museum, as I was saying, is that these objects are rooted in storytelling. So what's really nice is that it kind of levels the playing field. This kind of puts all kinds of different art forms in the same plane, as long as they're engaged with and telling us stories. And as someone who is himself, a storyteller, and an artist, it's just a really amazing thing to be a hardware project that is led by him. What's your favorite piece in the collection? And then what's your favorite Star Wars piece in the cloud? Oh, my God. So yeah, that's a great, I get this question a lot. And I should probably have a better answer, but I like I've spent so much time with this collection that it's really hard to choose. We have 1,300 artworks on view. There's tens of thousands of artworks in the collection. So it's really, really hard. But I would say for me, one of the things that I kind of often return to are the fantasy paintings by Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, and others from the kind of 60s through the 80s. I grew up with a lot of kind of sword and sorcery stuff. So for me, they just really resonate. They're beautiful paintings that are technically perfect. They're really, really gorgeous to look at. They're these large, large scale, oil paintings that were made for trading cards for paperback books. So to see them in person is just really, really impressive. In terms of Star Wars stuff, there are so many things. We have over about a hundred thousand objects that are in the Lucasfilm production archive that has been gifted to the museum. And it is immense. How do you curate a museum that is about the history of story? Human story is such an infinite thing, almost everything about our lives or story. If you're curating fine artists like that, you go pick a bunch of things. But like, how do you start with, I heard you start with Gapate. What's the process of curating a museum about story itself? There's a couple of things. One, we're also a museum with a collection that's building on the history of collecting. So George Lucas is a collector. He's been collecting there. So the seed collection of the museum are things that George has been collecting since the 1970s. A lot has also been collecting on its own in conversation with him. Everything we buy, everything we propose, he'll have seen and approved. So we kind of are fitting within a pre-established kind of set of collection categories that were already there and expanding upon that. So that in some ways does determine some of the exhibitions. So that's why we have a comic art presentation in children's books and why we have emphasis on Norman Rockwell and others. These are areas that George has been collecting in for many years. But we do also, as you mentioned, cave paintings, have a presentation that really kind of connects different cultures around the world, around these shared stories that really reaches deep into human history from their earliest forms. Of human representation in cave paintings through ancient artworks and European paintings and all kinds of other things to really show that this is a tradition that reaches back into the earliest moments in human history. Was it important when you, George, were thinking of this museum where it feels like this is a museum of the people. It's not just like the highest of high art. It's every single type. I think that's what's so exciting and why I think it's really important and really fun to be a Comic Con, honestly. I feel like this is an audience that implicitly gets it. Everything at Comic Con in some ways is a form of narrative art. This is a conference that's really dedicated to storytelling. And so, yes, I think what's really exciting about it is that it is for everyone. If you're an avid art museum goer, there's going to be something there for you. If you're someone who's a film buff, there's something there for you. If you love comics, there's something there for you. If you just want to go and hang out at a park, you can do that because we have a really beautiful park that will have sculptures installed. So, there's so much to see. So, the variety prevents that, but also because I think what really matters to George Emility is that this museum is accessible, that the artwork itself is accessible and familiar, but the space is also accessible. So, I think, yes, it's an art museum for everyone. What have you learned about us, about the nature of who we are, about human beings, through exploring this very fundamental part of who we are? Yeah. So, one thing that another thing that I feel like I've learned from George is he's often used this term myth, which it actually took me kind of a long time to really fully understand how he was using it and why that mattered so much to the history of narrative art. But it's really been helpful for me, and it's something that I've learned, that stories are really fundamentally about myth. We sometimes think of myth as, you know, Thor and Ancient Lore and things like that, but it's also the kind of mundane aspects of everyday life. Family has its own mythology associated with it. Love has its own mythology associated with it, and those mythologies are because of the stories we've been told, the images that we've seen. And so, for me kind of thinking about the world in a different way, that we kind of really understand the world through stories is just something I truly had not quite thought about in the way that I had until the last few years, but yeah. Favorite Star Wars film, and did you tell Lucas to his face? Yeah, that is really hard. That's not fair. Honestly, I mean, I think everyone says it, and it's probably boring, but certainly Empire is just something that's hard to resist. Yeah, I mean, I mean, I certainly wouldn't ask him which one his favorite is, but you know, we talk about Star Wars all the time because it's part of what the museum does. So, you know, I was on SC's campus, and I saw the museum I didn't know it was. I literally was building. It's crazy. I'm not, you're not an architect already, but can you talk for a second about just the arresting visual look of the museum itself? There's this kind of almost homes like when you see it. Yeah, how does that correlate with what's going to be inside of it? It is a like truly astounding piece of architecture. It really is. Especially when you're kind of inside of it on the campus, it's just a really unique form of architecture, this series of undulating organic forms that's really unlike anything I've ever seen. The Plaza level has these two parts of the museum coming together with an Oculus or the light kind of shines through. It's just a very special space. I think for me one way they've asked and thought about it is that the building's kind of organic structure really has no kind of beginning and end. It's actually somewhat in the shape of an inventory. In any symbol, they don't think this was intentional, but I think this idea of a path that doesn't have a specific line is really important to us that you can experience this museum in any way. You could start somewhere and then somewhere we're not really telling you where to go. I think maybe there is some correlation between that free-flowing architectural style and the experience you'll have there. - Also, two theaters in the museum. Can you talk about programming? What are you all showing? - Odyssey's out, people are-- - Yeah. - People walk this. - So, it screens. - Yeah, this is really exciting. We're going to announce elements of our film program at the Comic-Con panel later this evening. And it's really exciting. We have two theaters at the museum. They are beautiful, state-of-the-art, fully digital theaters. There's one theater with 35 millimeter capacity, which is really exciting. And in my early conversations with George about the film program, I realized this can be very different. There's not really any film program like it. The idea is that there's a continuous stream of programming all day long in both theaters. So, you can kind of come and go when you'd like. You can stay for as long as little as you'd like. We'll have a pre-circulated program, so you can see certain things. Or you can just happen in there and see something by accident. And it covers really everything from the earliest cinema experiments to animation, documentaries, Avogarn Experimental. It is a really, really unique program. You'll see things there that you won't see anywhere else. And that's kind of a common theme across the museum. - Will there be cool screenings and stuff for us to go to? We want to come. - Yes, so we're still-- And these are amazing theaters that can be used for all kinds of programmatic purposes. Our focus has really been on that kind of daytime use, which will be this open-door film program. But of course, there's possibilities and opportunities for evening programs and special screenings. - I think you have to get out of here, but now that your friends are the midnight boys, you know, can you slide in some tickets? - Hit me out. - Hit me out. - No, we'll figure it out. - Oh, hell yeah. - Thank you so much. - Thank you. - Appreciate you. - Appreciate the work. [MUSIC PLAYING]